One of the most important things we must know when working in healthcare is how to identify child abuse and neglect. You might be thinking that child abuse is easily identifiable, but it isn't, not always. In some cases, the children are not openly beaten and are abused emotionally or neglected. In other cases, you might suspect child abuse but will find the child unwilling to discuss what might be happening in his or her home. The importance of understanding and identifying child abuse cannot be understated in our profession, and CEUFast offers a (child abuse identification course New York) nurses can take to complete their (New York State mandated reporter training).

73 million boys and 150 million girls are sexually assaulted worldwide.

1,545 U.S. children died from abuse and neglect in 2011.

Of those 1,545 children, those victimized the most were under one year old.

Qualified professionals only report 50 percent of abuse incidents because they do not understand the warning signs of maltreatment and neglect.

All I can do when I review these statistics is shake my head. Only 50 percent of these cases are being reported by those in our profession. That is a frighteningly low number. Especially when you take into consideration the number of children that might have been saved had their abuse been brought to the attention of the proper authorities. We owe it to our patients to understand the signs of maltreatment.

It's the Law

Aside from the statistics I listed, nurses practicing medicine in the state of New York are required to undergo proper training for identifying and reporting cases of child abuse and neglect. New York legislators passed the state's Child Protective Services Act in 1973. This Act requires all human services professionals receive special training to investigate any report of child abuse, and reports of child abuse can come from anyone but must come from mandated reporters. Who are mandated reporters? We are!

New York State Social Services Law Section 413 specifically lists healthcare professionals, including nurses, as mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect. In other words, if you suspect one of your patients is being abused or neglected, you are legally required to report the incident to Child Protective Services, even if you don't have solid proof that the child is being abused. This brings me back to that last bulleted statistic and a very important question. If we are required to report child abuse, why aren't we?

Learning How to Identify and Report Child Abuse

The common school of thought as to why more child abuse cases are not being reported by healthcare professionals is that we are not well-versed in identifying the signs of abuse and the steps to report it. CEUFast ensures that New York State healthcare professionals are properly equipped to identify child abuse by offering its accredited (New York State Mandated Reporter Training) course. This is a specialized (child abuse identification course New York) medical professionals will benefit greatly from taking.

Included in CEUFast's (New York State child abuse training) courses are objectives designed to teach healthcare professionals in properly identifying instances of child abuse, including:

Learning all of the physical and mental indicators of child abuse.

Reviewing case studies to understand how to identify all forms of child abuse.

Learning how to talk with children to aid in determining if they are being abused.

Also included within the CEUFast (New York State Mandated Reporter Training) course are lessons designed to aid healthcare professionals in understanding the state's child abuse legal framework, including:

All persons legally required to report child abuse.

Legal definitions of what New York considers child abuse and neglect.

Learning the proper procedures for reporting child abuse to Child Protective Services and other appropriate authorities.

Anyone living in New York would benefit from taking CEUFast's (child abuse identification course; New York) medical professionals particularly benefit. All New York nurses should take the CEUFast course to ensure that they do not increase the statistic of unreported child abuse cases. This course will give the knowledge and critical tools you will need in your daily practice to ensure that you can see and properly report instances of child abuse occurring with your patients. Think about it; you just might save a life, which is why you got into nursing in the first place!

Please click here for more information on the CEUFast New York Mandated Reporter Training course.